Befriend A Book Blogger – Meggy From Chocolate ‘n’ Waffles

We have another great blogger Q&A today, with Meggy from Chocolate ‘n’ Waffles. I’ll let Meggy introduce herself.

The lady behind Chocolate’n’Waffles is Meggy, who thought it would be fun to do her introduction with a third person narrative.
She is French, which means she can never be wrong about cooking. Or anything for that matter. She is a Yogi, which helps her staying sane and in pretty good shape for a stiff twig. She is now a student in publishing (starting this September! Fingers crossed!), and passionate about the English language, which means she can talk for an hour about the differences between riveting and engrossing, and won’t hesitate to chase you with a virtual fork if you forget the difference between you’re and your. Yes, Meggy is a Grammar Terror, even though she herself struggles with harder points of the fascinating English grammar. She is a dog mom, and will bore you to death with stories and photos of her baby dog, just like any mom with her offspring. She’s a tea lover with a strong addiction to waffles and chocolate. She’s a sanity keeper, when she remembers not to go crazy herself.

She isn’t afraid to talk about mental health and her battles against her illnesses.

But most of all, she is a book lover.

Welcome to the blog, thanks for stepping away from yours for a few minutes to answer some questions about book blogging.

We’ll start with the easy questions and then see where we go from there!

How long have you been book blogging and what prompted you to start?

Chocolate’n’Waffles was born on December 2015 but my first blog post went online on January 1st 2016. At this time I was in a dark place, and thanks to an impromptu visit to the university library and the finding of 1984, I was reminded how much I loved reading, and how passionate I was about English. I decided mixing my two hobbies would keep me busy every day and help me break the circle I was in. I really had in mind this blog was just for me to read, and I never expected it to reach its first month anniversary!

Tell us a little bit about your blog, what will blog readers find there?

Ramblings! Lots of it! 🙂 I post at least one review per week, so there are mainly book talks, but I also indulge in Suntags, which are tags I publish… On Sundays, you’d have guessed! Another important category on my blog is the Blog Therapy and other posts I started in which I talk about my mental health and my battles with anxiety, agoraphobia, and depression in the hope for it to help me get better and help others by reminding them there are not alone. This might be my favorite part on the blog.

What’s your favourite part about book blogging?

The sharing. Might it be opinions, book recs, silly and funny info about ourselves, support on rainy days. When I book blog, I forget about the bad stuff, I am in my world, I feel like I belong, and I love interacting with so many awesome people.

What has been your highlight since you’ve started?

My highlight this year has been getting the go-ahead on a project I had about a publisher spotlight. I was lucky to prepare and host the Orenda Books month on my blog back in March, and working with Karen, the founder, and her team, has made me feel like a real book blogger, haha! Suddenly, I felt more confident, a little closer to the seasoned bloggers I admire.

It was successful and I had the best of times learning how to work differently, try new things, and read amazing books.

I never expected an idea thrown in a Twitter conversation to be taken seriously, but Orenda Books trusted me and a fabulous month followed. A special month during which it dawned on me I wanted to work in Publishing, so big deal!

If you could carry on blogging but could stop doing one thing (that’s maybe a necessary part of the process now) what would it be?

Fighting with WordPress to format and schedule my posts! It’s a nightmare when you have to go back over and over for the content to look the way you want it too!

What advice would you give to anyone who is considering starting a book blog?

Be sure about it because it’s one of the most time-consuming hobby ever!

Of course, blogging is not a job, you can handle the way you want it, but almost everyone I have met have quickly become addictive to it and now their lives are full!

How much time does it take up?

Reading? An entire life!

Blogging? I try to spare at least an hour a day to blog-hop, but I often find myself missing a day so then spending an entire afternoon catching up! Book reviews used to take me forever, now I write my Lazy Reviews in thirty minutes without counting the formatting and scheduling, a regular review takes me an hour max. Putting it all on WordPress and making it pretty and ready takes twenty minutes per posts if I don’t have to produce graphics, thirty minutes to an hour when it’s a tag and you need pictures!

What are your reading habits like?

I read whenever, wherever. I never leave the house without a book so I can read a couple of pages while waiting at the cashier and then go back to it at the bank. I do this on busy days. During weekends, I either plan an entire morning or afternoon to read. Usually Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons!

What state is your TBR (To Be Read) pile in?

I’ve been trying to behave and reduce my buying and getting books, but it’s not working. Currently just below 200 books to read!

What do you drink while reading?

I love having a mug of herbal tea while reading. On hot days, just plain old boring water!

Where’s your favourite place to read?

My terrace! There’s an outdoor bed and it is comfy and not too hot before 5pm when the sun suddenly turns it into an oven.

What book would you recommend, that gets little attention, that you haven’t really seen talked about? And why, what is it about this book that you love?

Alafair Burke’s If You Were Here. It’s a compelling and strong read, I loved the writing and I’ve seen her other book The Ex get a lot of attention but it was a disappointment for me, so I’d recommend this one for a nice one sitting and gripping reading time!

I read it between ARCs at a time I was drowning in a NetGalley pool so I never reviewed it due to a lack of time, and I regret it now! It’s full of actions, questions, doubts, and well-crafted characters.

Thanks so for taking the time to answer these. It’s been a pleasure having you.

I was delighted to meet Meggy via the Orenda month (which was great, by the way, well done for all your hard work on that) and discover she was French, which meant we could natter a bit between ourselves about some books which have not yet been translated or compare the French original with the translations! She has rapidly become one of my go-to book bloggers.

Thanks so much for your kind words!! I’m so glad you enjoyed the Orenda Month, and it’s a real pleasure to be able to chat about different books! I’m going to have a new feature about the French books I’m about to study, so we’ll have plenty to talk about!

How nice to get to know you a little better, Meggy. I’ve seen your comments on various blogs, and I like the way you combine books/reading with other posts about living well on your own blog. Thanks for sharing. As always, Rebecca, thanks for this feature!